Falcons helped Kirk Cousins make football-business history

[ASFN Admin]

Two years ago, the Atlanta Falcons took a couple of big risks at the quarterback position. While there's still time to turn things around for one of them, right now it appears that both moves are going to age very poorly.

In the 2024 NFL Draft, the Falcons stunned everybody by taking Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., despite his history of knee injuries. It was a huge surprise after Atlanta had already signed veteran Kirk Cousins to a massive four-year, $180 million max deal just the month before.

Fast forward 24 months and Penix is recovering from yet another ACL tear. Meanwhile, Cousins will be suiting up for the Las Vegas Raiders after the Falcons released him. They will still be paying Cousins $8.7 million this season for the pleasure of playing for somebody else.

Thanks in no small part to the Falcons' largesse, Cousins is about to make NFL-business history. According to Field Yates at ESPN, he will soon pass Tom Brady as the second-highest paid player in league history.

When accounting for the $20M fully guaranteed money Kirk Cousins will now make, he will soon pass Tom Brady for the second-most money made by a player in NFL history.

The man is a first ballot Hall of Famer in the business of the NFL https://t.co/eNdja9b5yf

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 2, 2026

All together, Cousins appeared in 24 games with the Falcons, posting 5,229 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, 21 interceptions and an 87.2 passer rating. For his trouble Cousins earned $100 million from the franchise.

This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Kirk Cousins' awful Falcons contract helped him pass Tom Brady

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